The second volume of this series came out last year and this series might interest any fans of R&B on this board. Here are the descriptions for each album in chronological order...


Various Artists - WORKING MAN'S SOUL

Album Description:

Working Man's Soul celebrates the forgotten world of British cabaret performers from the 1960s and 1970s and selects the cream of the cuts only previously available on privately pressed records. Manufactured by the artists themselves in miniscule quantities, these records were sold at live performances at Social Clubs, Miners' Welfare Clubs and Working Man's Clubs across the UK. Some of the artists went on to become household names; some went back to the day job; others made a successful and lucrative, albeit understated, career of playing three sets a night, six nights a week.

Working Man's Soul covers everything from soul, funk and jazz to rock and easy listening; the common theme is of music recorded and performed to celebrate the good times and the end of the working week. The records from which these tracks are taken have been unearthed by Licorice Soul over many years of persistent (and usually fruitless) searching at flea markets, car boot sales, charity shops, and even the odd proper second hand record shop.

The majority of these tracks are here made commercially available for the very first time, each brings with it its own story of success, failure, or years of simply hoping, and in its own unique way, evokes the golden age of the British club circuit.

With a track listing including superb covers of classics like Funky Nassau, Watermelon Man, Work Song, Time Is Tight and Memphis Underground, this is one killer compilation that should be on any music fan's wish list.

From the Artist:

Privately pressed recordings - If you thumb through the various price guides or encyclopaedic discographies available in the murky netherworld of serious record collecting, you may notice that occasional rarities in the realms of folk or progressive music are not to be found on any recognisable record label, but instead are listed as Private Pressings.

Today it is common for artists of all styles to manufacture their own product, from strict-tempo organists to young bands selling their own songs on-line. It's now easy to assemble a home studio and burn a CD, but thirty years ago not everyone had a vinyl pressing plant at the bottom of the garden. The solution for some artists without a label was manufacturing a small run of records from tapes laid down at the local recording studio.

Not to be confused with major label-produced acetates or test pressings (manufactured to review a day's work in the studio or to test the qualities of a mix down) a private pressing, or road album, offered artists an opportunity to commit their talent to vinyl, make a little cash and work around the stranglehold that major labels had on record sales at that time. The majors had their own selected approved stockists and controlled the distribution channels up until the late 1970s, whereas private pressings were usually sold directly to audiences at gigs. Discovering Working Man's Soul

With the end of the cabaret circuit and the simultaneous demise of the vinyl record as a mainstream music format, the 80s and 90s saw the majority of the artists featured here move on to pastures new. Their records have languished forgotten in dusty attics since their heyday. Given such circumstances, rediscovering these recordings has been no mean feat. This selection of tracks has been painstakingly unearthed by years of (usually fruitless) searching at flea markets, car boot sales, charity shops, and even the odd proper second hand record shop.

The records presented here are not found in price guides or even usually given space in the shelves of second hand record shops, and more often than not, when discovered they can be bought for pence rather than pounds. These items are found more by persistence than purchasing power, chiefly because it takes a brave listener to gamble on the music that a privately pressed record may deliver. More often than not the sounds to be had upon dropping the needle are not altogether pleasant - but sometimes real gems are to be found, as is revealed on this album.

With this collection we aim to celebrate the era of the cabaret band with a selection of tracks originally available only as private pressings. These recordings cover many genres, including soul, funk, jazz, rock and easy listening. In some cases our chosen artists mix all of these styles within the same track. Jazz standards given a bit of pep mix it with funky big band numbers, Hammond players show off their chops, vocalists belt it out good and proper and even the drummer gets a solo. Their common theme is a strong groove designed to keep a busy dance floor moving. After all, this was music performed to celebrate the good times and the end of the working week.

There are many sub-genres within the world of privately pressed recordings. We have chosen to confine this first selection to artists operating on the cabaret and club circuit - appearing at Social Clubs, Miners Welfare Clubs and Working Man's Clubs across the United Kingdom - so we have termed this first edition Working Man's Soul.


01 Alan Randall - Work Song
02 Collection - Vehicle
03 Plimsoll Sandwich - Memphis Underground
04 Brian Sharp - Aquarius
05 The Sophisticats - Dont Bother Me No More
06 Sounds Bob Rogers - Meadowbank
07 The Peter Coe Big Band - Hang In There
08 John O'Hara And The Famous O'Hara Playboys - Funky Nassau
09 Northern Jazz Orchestra - Hip Flask
10 Dave Anthony - Popsie
11 Eric Delaney - Watermelon Man
12 Brian Sharp - Light My Fire
13 Dave Anthony - Chain Of Fools
14 The Peter Coe Big Band - Dark Orchid
15 Keith Lloyd - Time Is Tight
16 Carol Lee - Little Bit Of Love
17 Bob Bernard Quartet - Coming Home Baby
18 Maxwell Plumm - Flyin Hi

Official site: http://www.licoricesoul.co.uk/lsd014.php

Sound samples: http://www.djhistory.com/downloads/work ... 0%99s-soul

Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000M3CWOM/?tag=imwan-20
Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000J3F7N8/?tag=imwan-21

Various Artists - WORKING MAN'S SOUL 2

Another thin layer of dust has settled on the record racks of time since the first volume of Working Man’s Soul was released in 2006, where we at Licorice Soul first rescued a plethora of forgotten funky gems from within the grooves of privately-pressed Road Albums of the 1960s and ‘70s. Now, dear listener, we are proud to present herewith the second volume of selections from the forgotten, yet funky, world of the night club performer of yesteryear, proving that the world of cabaret music is a rich seam that is still a very long way from being picked clean of groovy goodness.

As listeners will remember from the sleeve notes from the first volume of Working Man’s Soul, Road Albums were often the result of self-financed recording sessions from bands and singers who had become marginally successful on a local or regional level, but either couldn’t seem to attract the attention of the big record labels of the time, or were simply happy to plough their own furrow around the clubs. What has brought these artists to our attention many years later is the fact that they decided to go it alone and generate an album or EP to sell to willing punters after the gig, often putting their own cash up front, sometimes working with the assistance of a benevolent patron or independent local recording studio with its own in-house vinyl press, and yet more others taking advantage of the sell-a-few, buy-a-few approach of pressing-and-distribution one-stop shops like the SRT label.

As with the first in the series, this second volume of Working Man’s Soul displays a strong regional flavour. Not that London had any less than its share of Working Man’s, Trade Union or Social clubs, but more likely, and as has often been recounted during interviews with the protagonists over the course of these releases, as far as the major record labels were concerned, if it was north of Watford, forget it. In this age of domestic commuter air travel, it is easy to lose touch with the fact that that the motorway network was still in its infancy in the 1960s and ‘70s and a City & Guilds in mechanics was often needed to make sure that a trip in the band van down to the bright lights of the capital for a big time gig that didn’t end with dashed hopes and the assistance of the AA man. Record company types don’t often venture out of the warmth and comfort of London unless they absolutely have to, and even back then very few bands or singers made it unless they transplanted themselves down to The Smoke. However, it is clear that during the 1960s and ‘70s this major label apathy did not prevent strong regional music scenes from flourishing, often due to the steady employment possibilities for professional musicians on BBC regional radio and television productions; for example at Oxford Road studios in Manchester and Pebble Mill in Birmingham. These studios and other similar facilities around the country, coupled with the birth and expansion of local radio during the period, provided the regional springboard for a large number of the artists we present here, for which the BBC should be highly praised.

But also let us not forget the other side – ITV that is. The thin line between success and failure of the artists we feature here is all too often one drawn by the swing of the Clapometer or the forthright views of Tony Hatch. Highly popular television shows such as New Faces - a mirror to the Beeb’s Opportunity Knocks - provided a platform for a wide diversity of acts from up and down the country to get television exposure at prime time, and this compilation features huge success stories such as The Black Abbots, but equally, many who sadly must have just filled up the bill as Lena Zavaroni won the hearts of the nation for yet another blummin’ week. Their time has now come.

01 Fantasy - Black Knight
02 Heads Together - Funky Stuff
03 ABC Hit Band - Super Strut
04 Vince Earl Attraction - Cant Enough Of Your Love Baby
05 Mythology - Easy Living
06 Frazer Mak - Sundance
07 Brass Foundry - Superstitious
08 Graham Walsh - You Are The Sunshine
09 New Jersey Turnpike - Long Train Running
10 Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra - Sax Bap
11 Melodians - Fur Elise
12 Paul Brown Trio - Agua De Beber
13 Black Abbots - Soul Man
14 Gary Allcock Midland Allstars - Norwegian Wood
15 Tracy Jones - Aquarius
16 Quartz - Social Values
17 Both Hands Free - City Slicker
18 Brass Foundry - Untitled

Official Site: http://www.licoricesoul.co.uk/lsd015.php

Sound Samples: http://www.djhistory.com/downloads/work ... 99s-soul-2

Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002C6K80M/?tag=imwan-20
Amazon U.K.: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002C6K80M/?tag=imwan-21

And here's a review of the first WORKING MAN'S SOUL disc that I posted at my blog:
http://www.schlockmania.com/wm-soul-1/

and here's a review of WORKING MAN'S SOUL 2:

http://www.schlockmania.com/working-mans-soul-2/